Ski slalom exerciser

ABSTRACT

A ski slalom exerciser which includes a horizontal platform with a low friction top surface and a pair of sliders having low friction bottoms disposed on the platform for sliding movement thereon. This movement may also be guided by a pair of elongated guides slidably engaged to the sliders. The guides positioned and extending above the platform have their forward ends pivotally secured to a bracket positioned forwardly in variable distance from the platform. To stop this movement, the sliders have on their elongated lateral sides brakes operated by tilting the user&#39;s feet. A pair of upright adjustable poles are mounted to the front portion of the base in variable distance from the platform. A pair of stretchable straps may be used to compel the user to flex his legs. The straps are attached at one end to hooks at the front of the sliders, with the other end wrapped around the user&#39;s knees.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to an apparatus for use in learning and/orpracticing snow skiing techniques.

The most important maneuvering in snow skiing is making controlled turnsof skis to achieve a desired direction of travel and/or to vary thespeed of travel. There are certain ski techniques, with which a skiershould be familiar in order to have complete control of his skis. Thesetechniques can be practiced on an exerciser which can simulateconditions experienced in snow skiing.

There is a great variety of ski exercise equipment that allows a traineeto practice ski techniques. However, there is no available equipmentthat allows freedom of feet movement that a skier experiences in actualskiing. They do not provide means for the skier's hands to be supported,nor means to compel him to keep his knees and ankles in a flexedposition.

PURPOSE OF THE INVENTION

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide anexerciser which can simulate to a high degree snow skiing conditions.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an exerciserwhich allows a user to practice many ski techniques and work-out adesired body pressure.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide anexerciser which is simple in construction, inexpensive, and which mayeasily be disassembled for convenient storage.

Further and other objectives will be apparent to a person skilled in theart following the summary and detailed description of the invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The ski slalom exerciser of the present invention has a horizontalplatform mounted proximate the rear portion of the base preferably madeof tubular members with a low friction top surface. A pair of slidershaving bindings mounted proximate the top thereof for securing theuser's feed thereto are disposed on the platform for sliding movementthereon. To facilitate this movement, the bottoms of the sliders arecovered with low friction cushions. To execute a controlled stop of thissliding movement at any desired moment, break means are provided on thesliders which operate by the user tilting his feet to one side or theother.

Alternatively, for some ski techniques a pair of elongated guides may beapplied. The guides are slidable engaged to the sliders. The forwardends of said elongated guides are pivotally mounted to a bracket whichis preferably displaced forwardly in variable distance from theplatform, and secured to the base. This position determines an angle ofpivotal movement of the guides and thereby movement of the sliders.

A stretchable tether coupling both guides may also be applied to urge auser to keep his feet together.

Furthermore, a pair of stretchable straps may be used to compel the userto flex his ankles and knees. The straps are attached, at one endthereof to hooks at the front of said sliders, with the other endthereof wrapped around the user's knees.

A pair of upright poles are mounted proximate the front portion of thebase. The distance between the poles and the platform, and the height ofpoles may be varied to accommodate various body sizes.

Other objects of the invention will appear in the following descriptionand appendent claims reference being made to the accompanying drawingsforming a part of the specification wherein like reference numeralsdesignate corresponding parts in the several views.

The ski slalom exerciser, in its basic arrangement, operates as follows:a user attaches hit feet to the sliders, grasps the handle grips on thepoles, and moves the sliders the same way as he would move his skis inactual skiing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of an exerciser in one embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a right side cross section elevational view thereof along line2--2 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a cross section elevational view thereof along line 3--3 ofFIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings, the exerciser has a base generally shownas 1. The base 1 may be made of rigid tubular members comprising twoelongated main members 2, and at least one cross brace 3. The members 2and cross braces 3 are permanently joined together. To reinforce thefront portion of the base 1, an H-shaped frame 4 made also ofpermanently joined rigid tubular members is secured to the front portionof base members 2, so that the rear ends of the frame 4 provide anabutment to the front edge of a platform 5 which is mounted to the rearportion of the base 1 with a bracket 6 and screws 7.

The platform 5 has a low friction top surface and round upper edges. Forstability of the platform 5, a lateral support 8 is mounted along bothlateral portions underside to the platform 5.

A pair of sliders 9 and 10 are disposed on the platform 5 for slidemovement thereon, and two abutment means 11 are mounted on the topsurface lateral portions of the platform 5 to prevent sliders 9 and 10from sliding off the platform 5 accidentally.

A pair of elongated guides 12 and 13 positioned and extending above theplatform 5, through openings 14 and 15 are slidably engaged to thesliders 9 and 10 for their movement along the guides. Forward ends ofguides 12 and 13 are pivotally mounted to a web 16 of bracket means 17.The web 16 is positioned forwardly in variable distance from theplatform 5, to permit variation in an angle of pivotal movement ofguides 12 and 13. To select a desired length of slider's movement alongthe guides, restricting means 18 are mounted on the guides 12 and 13 atboth ends of each slider 9 and 10.

Bracket means 17 comprise a web 16 secured to a stem 19 which isinserted through an horizontal opening in the center of the cross brace20, where said stem 19 is kept in place by a retainer pin 21 insertedthrough a vertical opening the cross brace 20 to engage with one of aplurality of vertical openings formed in the stem 19 as best shown inFIG. 1.

Sliders 9 and 10 each comprise a base member 22 and a top cover member23. Both said members are tiltably mounted together with a mountingplate 24 and a sliding pin 25 secured to respective ends of said membersas shown on FIG. 3.

A resilient means 26 is interposed between said base member 22 and saidtop cover member 23 resiliently preventing the top cover member 23against being tilted unintentionally by the user. The cushions 27 aremade of a low friction material that is compatible with the low frictiontop surface of the platform 5, and this compatibility facilitates thesliding movement of sliders 9 and 10 on the platform 5.

To execute a controlled stop of moving sliders 9 and 10 on the platform5 in any desired moment, each said slider comprises two flexiblefriction plates 28 secured to the elongated lateral portions of the basemember 22. The plates 28 extend outwardly beyond the lateral edges ofthe base member 22. The top cover member 23 has an inverted U-shapedcross section with elongated lateral portions protruding downwardlyabove the extending portions of the plates 28, and by tilting the covermember 23 by a user's foot, one of the protruding downwardly lateralportions of the cover member presses against the extending portion ofthe friction plate 28 thereby causing the contact of the friction plate28 with the platform 5. This contact creates friction between sliders 9and 10 and the platform 5 and thus stops the movement of sliders 9 and10.

A pair of stretchable straps 29 are provided to compel the user to flexhis knees and ankles. One end of each strap 29 is removably attached toa hook 30 which is located at the front end of the sliders 9 and 10, andthe other end is wrapped around the user's knees. The strap 29 comprisesconventional buckles for adjusting the size of the knee embracing loop,as well as to vary the desired length between the knee and the hook 30.

A pair of upright poles generally shown as 31 are removably mounted inone pair of a plurality of vertically extending openings 32 formed inthe front portion of base embers 2 and the frame 4. A selection ofopenings 32 varies the distance between the poles 31 and the platform 5.Each pole 31 comprises a support rod 33 having an upper portion offsetin a parallel manner relative to a lower pile portion which is removablymounted in one of the vertical openings 32. This offset facilitatesselection of spacing between poles when rotated clockwise or counterclockwise. The pole 31 further comprises a hand grip 34 mountedproximate the upper end portion of pipe member 35, and the lower portionof pipe member 35 is telescopically engaged to the upper portion of thesupport rod 33, and this engagement may be secured in selected positionsby means 36.

A linear scale 37 in even intervals in engraved on the upper portion ofthe support rod 33 to facilitate selection of a desired length of poles31./

A stretchable tether 38 is removably attached to rear portions of theguides 12 and 13 to compel the user to keep said guides in parallelmanner and thereby to keep sliders 9 and 10 closer together.

Bindings generally shown as 39 are mounted on the top of each slider 9and 10 for securing the feet of the user thereto.

I claim:
 1. A ski slalom exerciser comprisinga base disposed on a floor,a horizontal platform having a low friction top surface, mounted upon arear portion of said base, a pair of sliders having low friction bottomsdisposed on said platform for sliding movement thereon, a pair ofadjacent elongated guides positioned and extending above said platformhaving forward ends pivotally secured to bracket means displacedforwardly in a variable distance from said platform; middle portions ofsaid guides extending into center openings of said sliders slidablyengaging thereof to guide said movement; and a stretchable tetherremovably coupling rear portion of said guides for maintaining andslides in close proximity, a pair of stretchable straps each with oneend removably attached proximate the forward portions of said sliders,and the other ends of said straps embracing the knees of a user, a pairof upright poles with variable length mounted proximate the forwardportion of said base in variable distance from said platform.
 2. A skislalom exerciser according to claim 1 in which said horizontal platformcomprises two abutment means secured to lateral portions of theplatform, and the pair of said sliders having low friction cushionssecured to their bottoms and disposed upon said platform for slidingmovement thereon.
 3. A ski slalom exerciser according to claim 2 whereinsaid sliders each comprise a top cover member tiltably mounted withmounting means to a base member, said mounting means secured to endportions of said members, and resilient means interposed between saidmembers resiliently urge said top cover member against tilting relativeto said base member, and said cushion made of a low friction materialsecured to the bottom of said base member to facilitate said slidingmovement; two flexible friction plates secured to the top of elongatedlateral portions of said base member, extending outwardly beyond lateraledges of said base ember, and said top cover member having elongatedlateral portions protruding downwardly above said extending portions ofsaid friction plates wherein by tilting said cover member, saiddownwardly protruding portion thereof presses against said extendingportion of said friction plate to engage thereof with said platform tostop said sliding movement.
 4. A ski slalom exerciser according to claim3 wherein two adjacent elongated guides are positioned and extend abovesaid platform with forward ends pivotally secured to bracket meansdisplaced forwardly in variable distance from said platform to vary theangle of pivotal movement of said guides, and a stem of said bracketmeans being removably mounted in selected positions to a front crossbrace of said base; the middle portions of said guides extending intocenter openings of said sliders and slidably engaging thereof to guidesaid sliding movement, and to select a desired length of said slidingmovement along said guides; restricting means removably mounted inselected positions on said guides at both ends of each slider; rearportions of said guides being removably coupled with a stretchabletether to keep said guides and said sliders in a close an parallelconfiguration.
 5. A ski slalom exerciser according to claim 4 furthercomprising a pair of stretchable straps with one end removably attachedproximate to the forward end portions of said sliders and the other endembracing the knees of user, and said strap further comprisingconventional buckles to vary the size of the embracing loop and thelength of said strap between the knee and the sliders.
 6. A ski slalomexerciser according to claim 5 wherein said base further comprises twospaced elongated tubular members having in their forward portions aplurality of openings for mounting a pair of upright poles in variabledistance from said platform; each said pole comprising a support rodhaving an upper portion offset in a parallel relation to a lower portionto vary spacing between said poles, wherein a lower portion of a pipemember telescopically engages said upper portion of said support rod;and hand grips mounted to the upper end portions of said pipe member.